In Response to Critics, a New Renovation Plan Will Focus on Books, not Atriums

The New York Public Library, responding to outcry over its plans to demolish century-old book stacks, will this fall unveil a new design that preserves a significant portion of them, its president,
Anthony Marx,
said Tuesday.

The library disclosed its plans in response to questions from The Wall Street Journal about alternatives it had considered to the $300 million renovation, which has sparked two lawsuits brought by scholars and preservationists, including a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, aiming to block the stacks' destruction.

Those alternatives, since scrapped, included mothballing the stacks or restoring and opening them to researchers as the Bibliothèque Nationale de France is doing, according to documents obtained from the State Historic Preservation Office through a public-records request. Until now, the renovation plan for the New York Public Library's landmark Fifth Avenue building has called for dismantling the stacks and replacing them with a new circulating library designed by British architect
Norman Foster.

ENLARGE

Stacks in New York before they were emptied.
Noah Rabinowitz for The Wall Street Journal

The library still intends to build a new circulating library in the 80,000-square-foot space under the Rose Main Reading Room. But in contrast to renderings released in December, which envisioned a vast atrium, the new design will incorporate the stacks as "a prominent feature," Mr. Marx said. They would hold the circulating library's books and be configured in a way that allows patrons to "see and experience" what the stacks were like as originally conceived by the building's architects,
Carrère
and
Hastings,
he said.

Reading rooms will be emphasized, "rather than atriums," Mr. Marx said. The design is not yet complete, and the library has not yet calculated its cost, he said.

Earlier

The planned renovation of the library's
Stephen A. Schwarzman
building would consolidate three libraries into one, replacing the dilapidated Mid-Manhattan Library as well as the Science, Industry and Business Library.

The State Historic Preservation Office is reviewing the renovation plan in an advisory capacity because the project received state money and because the building is landmarked. The city is also conducting an environmental review.

At the state's request, the library submitted details in March and June to state officials on the alternatives it had considered to removing the stacks, and why it hadn't pursued them.

According to those documents, the library examined the renovation of the Bibliothèque Nationale, a library in Paris designed by
Henri Labrouste.
Its Labrouste Storeroom, a closed book-stack area adjacent to the famed reading room, the Salle Labrouste, was completed in 1868. As part of a broader renovation budgeted at €212 million (about $284 million), the storeroom in 2015 will be opened to the public for the first time, after a restoration that will peel away elements that have been added in recent decades, said the project's architect,
Bruno Gaudin.
Because the storeroom cannot be fireproofed, the four-story space will be able to hold no more than 199 people at a time.

The New York Public Library's metal stack structure, completed in 1911, was inspired by the cast-iron stacks of the Bibliothèque Nationale, said
Barry Bergdoll,
a Museum of Modern Art curator who organized an exhibition earlier this year on Labrouste's work.

In response to calls to disclose more details on its renovation plans, the New York Public Library has pledged to release independent cost estimates for its alternatives. Those estimates are not yet available, Mr. Marx said.

ENLARGE

Bibliothèque Nationale's Labrouste storeroom, seen before a renovation that will open it to readers.
Bruno Gaudin

Until they were emptied in March, the Schwarzman building's stacks held millions of volumes from the library's research collection. In their submissions to the state, library officials said they considered adding temperature and humidity controls to make the stacks conform with current preservation standards. They estimated that such a project would cost $50 million. It would not be feasible to fireproof the stacks, they said.

If the stacks were updated, or simply left unused, the library could renovate the current home of the Mid-Manhattan Library rather than move it into the Schwarzman building. Mr. Marx has said such a project would require closing the busy Midtown branch for two years—a scenario that would cause significant disruption for patrons. But in the documents provided to the state, the library acknowledged that it could renovate the branch while keeping it open. That would increase the estimated cost of renovating that building to $180 million from $130 million, it said.

There would be other financial drawbacks. The library would forgo the $100 million it expects to receive from the sale of the Mid-Manhattan Library. The city's commitment of $150 million could drop, and such a renovation would involve fewer naming opportunities than a Schwarzman building renovation, which could discourage some private donations, the library said. It would also forgo the operating-cost savings it expects to achieve through consolidating three buildings into one.

Mr. Marx said the library's new design would make a section of the historic stacks accessible to the public for the first time. Leaving the stacks empty and untouched "would be irresponsible for the library," he said. "It's probably one of the largest indoor spaces in Manhattan. We need to use it for the public."

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.